Teddy | Page 2

"London's a large place, sir," he therefore observed tentatively, by way
of drawing the mite out and getting some clue towards his identity.
The little chap, however, was quite equal to the occasion.
"Don't tare," he said defiantly, checking the porter's artful attempt at
cross-examination. "I want do d'an'ma!"
Certainly, he was a most independent young gentleman.
Jupp was at a nonplus again; however, he tried to temporise with the
mite, the more especially from his noticing that his little legs were quite
mottled and his tiny fingers blue with cold.

"Well, come in here, sir, at all events, and warm yourself, and then we
can talk the matter over comfortably together," he said, throwing open
the door of the waiting-room as he spoke, and politely motioning the
little chap to enter.
The mite made no reply to the invitation, but he tacitly accepted it by
following the porter into the apartment he had indicated, and the two
were presently seated before a glowing fire, on which Jupp
immediately emptied the scuttleful of coals, there being no stint of the
fuel by reason of the company standing all expense.
Thawed by the genial warmth, rendered all the more enjoyable by the
wintry scene outside, where the snow was now swirling down faster
and faster as the afternoon advanced, the little chap began to get more
communicative, egged on by Jupp in a series of apparently innocent
questions.
"Nussy bad ooman," he blurted out after a long silence, looking up at
Jupp and putting his hand on his knee confidingly.
"Indeed, sir?" said the other cautiously, leading him on.
"Ess, man," continued the mite. "See want take way my kitty."
"You don't mean that, sir!" exclaimed Jupp with well-feigned horror at
such unprincipled behaviour on the part of the accused nurse.
"Ess, man, see did," replied the little chap, nodding his small curly head
with great importance; but the next instant his little roguish blue eyes
twinkled with suppressed intelligence, and his red rosebud of a mouth
expanded into a happy smile as he added, with much satisfaction in his
tones, "but I dot kitty all wite now!"
"Have you really, sir?" said Jupp, pretending to be much surprised at
the information, the little chap evidently expecting him to be so.
"Ess, man," cried the mite with a triumphant shout; "I'se dot po' 'ittle
kitty here!"

"Never, sir!" ejaculated Jupp with trembling eagerness, as if his life
depended on the solution of the doubt.
The little chap became completely overcome with merriment at having
so successfully concealed his treasured secret, as he thought, that the
porter had not even guessed it.
"Kitty's in dundle!" he exclaimed gleefully, hugging his handkerchief
parcel tighter to his little stomach as he spoke. "I dot kitty here, all
wite!"
"You don't mean that, sir--not in that bundle o' yours surely, sir?"
repeated Jupp with deep fictitious interest, appearing still not quite
convinced on the point and as if wishing to have the difficulty cleared
up.
This diplomatic course of procedure on the part of the porter removed
any lingering scruples the mite had in respect of his good faith.
"Ess, man. I dot kitty here in dundle all wite," he repeated earnestly in
his very impressive little way. "Oo musn't tell nobody and I'll so her to
'oo!"
"I won't breathe a word of it to a soul, sir," protested Jupp as solemnly
and gravely as if he were making his last dying deposition; whereupon
the mite, quite convinced of the porter's trustworthiness and
abandoning all further attempt at concealment, deposited his little
bundle tenderly on the floor in front of the fireplace, and began to open
it with much deliberation.
The little fellow appeared so very serious about the matter, that Jupp
could not help trying to be serious too; but it required the exercise of all
the self-command he possessed to refrain from laughing when the
motley contents of the red handkerchief were disclosed.
Before the last knot of the bundle was untied by the mite's busy fingers
there crawled out a tiny tortoise-shell kitten, with its diminutive little
tail erect like a young bottle-brush, which gave vent to a "phiz- phit," as

if indignant at its long confinement, and then proceeded to rub itself
against Jupp's leg, with a purring mew on recognising a friend.
"So that's kitty," said Jupp, holding the little thing up on his knee and
stroking it affectionately, the animal signifying its satisfaction by
licking the back of his hand with its furry little red tongue, and
straightening its tiny tail again as stiff as a small poker.
"Ess, man. Dat's kitty," murmured the mite, too much occupied
undoing the last knots of the bundle to waste time in further speech for
the moment, struggling as he was at the job